I hate MSDN (the web version)

jond777

I replaced MSDN with Google YEARS ago.

El Corazon

Dario Solera wrote:

Google is faster than MSDN. Time to use the cached pages?

Well, it is a bit more complicated than that. Caching a search for all people is difficult. But, there are ways.... For instance, indexing search criteria in a perfectly balanced tree might be good performance for all searches, but some searches are done more often than others. Wouldn't it be nice if common searches were faster, and less-common searches slower? Depends, of course on need, but still it is possible. A Splay-tree attempts to create an imbalanced key storage that is deliberately weighted for fast response on common searches and slow response on rare searches. Caching simply holds a copy in memory so that disks are not directly accessed, but you can't chache everything, if you could, you wouldn't need storage except as a backup of your caches. ;) Still, a more optimized search geared towards the user's searches would be preferred.

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Dario Solera

Actually, I meant pages cached by Google...

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originSH

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=CDC%3A%3ABitBlt+site%3Amsdn2.microsoft.com&meta=[^] I always go via google and just tell it to point at the msdn site.

Shog9 0

Mike Dimmick wrote:

I think they're still using a hidden site:lab.msdn.microsoft.com search parameter with their Live Search engine.

:doh: Oh, wow. I mean, seriously? :~

You must be careful in the forest Broken glass and rusty nails If you're to bring back something for us I have bullets for sale...

Marc Clifton

The MSDN web version has a search feature? :rolleyes: Marc

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Gary Wheeler

Yeah; it's called 'click-on-their-silly-assed-AJAX-enabled-tree-control-until-you-find-it'.

Software Zen: delete this;

Mark Salsbery

:omg: ouch

Mark Salsbery Microsoft MVP - Visual C++ :java:

Psycho Coder Extreme

jcdevnet wrote:

Funny thing is Google searches the MSDN library better than MSDN Does

Aint that the truth! The online MSDN is ungodly slow, I go to Google before I ever go to MSDN

"Well yes, it is an Integer, but it's a metrosexual Integer. For all we know, under all that hair gel it could be a Boolean." Tom Welch

Mark Salsbery

Another Google vote from me. I always use Google to get to MSDN links. I generally append "microsoft" to my search strings to pull the MSDN2 hits to the top. Every once in a while I need to append "msdn" but generally "microsoft" works best. Mark

Mark Salsbery Microsoft MVP - Visual C++ :java:

Eytukan

jcdevnet wrote:

Funny thing is Google searches the MSDN library better than MSDN Does the first entry for the search points to the msdn library article

and still they want us to believe on Windows Live search.:sigh:

He's become a household word in the Lounge. A whole new phraseology has evolved. Post a link or reply with a smiley and rose, and you've made a "Satipsism". So what? It's an interesting thing about the Internet, the evolution (as in change, not progress) of tone, quality, terminology, etc. -Marc Clifton. Best wishes to Rexx[^

Roger Wright

Use Google, then click on the link it provides to MSDN. That's the only way you'll ever find anything useful from Microsoft.

"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"

Kevin McFarlane

Here's a strange thing. MSDN is supposedly now using Windows Live Search. If you enter your search directly in Live Search it returns results similar to Google. But if you enter it in MSDN search it coughs and splutters! :confused:

Kevin

Dan Neely

yep, just Google the following: vbCListCtrl site:msdn.microsoft.com

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Member 96

The whole msdn site has become a joke. It's been broken beyond any sense of usability for years now and clearly Microsoft doesn't give a damn or they would have fixed it a long, long time ago. Odd that any division of Microsoft would encourage use of Google but there is really no workable alternative.

"I don't want more choice. I just want better things!" - Edina Monsoon

David Crow

Maximilien wrote:

I typed CDC::BitBlt in the google search box of Firefox, and the first link is the good one.

I searched MSDN for BitBlt(), and it was the sixth one in the result list. Still one click away. :confused:

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RedZenBird

Ballmer = Cheney The more power they get, the more it gets screwed up up... Oh I guess I'm on the no fly list now :)

Just trying to keep the forces of entropy at bay

Shog9 0

Searching for CDC BitBlt and "CDC::BitBlt" also work. :) What's funny though, is that the autosuggest dropdown suggests cdc::bitblt - the query that doesn't work - when you start typing cdc... :rolleyes:

----

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daniilzol

Cached MSDN pages from google lose all formatting and are much harder to read.

Mike Dimmick

As I posted further up the thread, I think it's a hidden site:lab.msdn.microsoft.com search parameter. The content has now moved to msdn2.microsoft.com and the lab.msdn.microsoft.com references have aged out of the search index.

Stability. What an interesting concept. -- Chris Maunder